Wakefield council tax payers’ contribution to police frozen

THE level of council tax people pay towards policing has been frozen for a second year.

West Yorkshire Police Authority have agreed to accept a one-off government grant of £2.7m to help balance the books.

Authority members also voted to reduce the overall budget by 5.4 per cent this year to help plug £23m gap due to government cuts.

And they also agreed to use £1m from the coffers to start a limited recruitment of 40 officers over the next 12 months a meeting held today (Friday).

Coun Mark Burns-Williamson, chairman, said: “The 2012/13 budget was always going to be a difficult one to set, due to the further reduction in government funding front-loaded into the second year of the spending review.”